Semiconductor chips such as processor chips are housed in chip packages, which are subsequently attached to circuit boards in the manufacture of a number of electronic devices. These devices, include personal computers, handheld computers, mobile telephones, MP3 players and other numerous information processing devices. One common configuration of input/output connections between chips, substrates, packages, and adjacent circuit boards, etc. includes grid array connection structures. In one common grid array connection structure, solder balls such as in ball grid array packages are used to connect between grids.
There are a number of design concerns that are taken into account when forming grid arrays. High mechanical strength and reliability of the grid array connections are desirable. In a solder structure grid interconnection example, two connection surfaces with one or more solder balls in between are heated to reflow the solder and form an electrical connection. The heating process causes adjacent structures such as chips, substrates, chip packages and circuit boards to expand and contract at different rates due to differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in each component. The differences in CTE may cause unwanted stresses and strains in resulting products. In addition, further stress is induced by product use conditions such as powering up and down. These product use conditions impose cyclic thermal stresses on components as well.